The 17th edition of CIBUS, the international food fair, has ended. 2,700 companies took part, many from the fresh produce, fresh-cut and pre-cooked sectors.

Fresh produce was among the protagonists of ANTEPRIMA DOP, during which Mario Aguzzi, chairman of the PGI Melone Mantovano consortium, was awarded by minister Maurizio Martina for having obtained the certification. Oranfrizer organised a tasting event and the PGI Pachino tomato consortium launched its gluten and lactose-free pizza.

Final data reveals that 67,000 visitors, 2,700 exhibitors and 950 journalists attended. The number of foreign buyers also increased - a thousand more with respect to 2012.

The slight increase of domestic consumption in the first few months of 2014 also contributed to the success of CIBUS, together with the wonderful occasion presented by EXPO 2015: Italian food companies will have the opportunity to take part in the Expo in the 'Federalimentare4Expo' pavilion.

A number of authorities also attended, from Maurizio Martina, Minister for Agricultural Policy, to Andrea Olivero, Deputy Minister for Agricultural Policy and Carlo Calenda, Deputy Minister for Economic Development. They stressed how the government is working on a defence strategy to contrast the negative effects of Italian sounding and fake custom barriers. This is particular important with a view to the EXPO 2015. They also talked about the government's intention to relaunch a 'made in Italy' brand and a platform created by the Ministry, Google and Aicig.

As Paolo De Castro, chairman of the Agricultural Commission of the European Parliament, CIBUS has a central role in the promotion of the Italian agricultural and food sector, especially since the demand for Italian food products, which are considered the flagship representing Italy worldwide, is increasing.

Italian food exports could potentially rise to €70 million from the current €26 million in ten years' time and become a daily commodity. In addition to the opening of the American markets, demand for Italian food is also increasing in Asia (Japan, China and the other South-East Asian countries).

At CIBUS, the Bain&Company's research on Italian exports was presented, listing the countries that import the bigger quantities of Italian food, which are: Germany, USA, France and UK, with increasing quotas in China, Russia and Brazil.

Despite this though, it emerged how a lot of times many companies cannot transform their high-quality in competitiveness. The challenge is to innovate the productive processes to keep up with technologies and regulations.

The Nielsen and Parma university conference then focused on product promotion in retail stores: from paper flyers to virtual downloadable ones that can also become a sort of shopping list.